meticulous tile work, "The Gift," depicts an atomic-bomb test blast on the Bikini atoll in more than a thousand clay squares. The show's standout is Charles Krafft's "Porcelain War Museum Proj- ect," which re-creates the sidearms, pistols, and hand grenades of the Balkan conflict in delicate ce- ramics, displayed on red velvet or carved-wood stands and decorated in delft style with faux- pastoral designs-a milkmaid, a wild rose, a white- gloved maiden waving over the legend "Been There Smashed That." Through Aug. 12. (Garth Clark, 24 W 57th St. 246-2205.) IICONSTRUCTION SITE II Capitalizing on the artists' flamboyant, neo-rococo energy, this small show of works by John Cham- berlain, Frank Stella, and Judy Pfaff proves that formalist abstraction can feel as festive as a street fair. The earliest work, a big, crumpled chunk of galvanized steel called "Crushed Hors d'Oeuvre," by Chamberlain, is the only monochromatic piece; everything else glitters with gaudy, violently satu- rated hues. The Pfaffs, especially-giddy explo- sions of plastic fruit and beach-balI-like spheres- are a perfect pick-me-up for a listless summer day. Through July 28. (Ameringer Howard, 41 E. 57th St. 935-1110.) II RECONFIGU RATION II A pair of brightly colored paintings by Trevor Winkfield and Michael Bevilacqua start this exhi- bition with a whimsical flourish. What follows is an eclectic sampling of figurative (but decidedly nontraditional) paintings, thoughtfully selected and installed. The WinkfieldJBevilacqua pairing, for example, reminds us that beneath their strik- ingly similar Pop-flavored palettes are very differ- ent sensibilities: Winkfield is looking over his shoulder at medieval heraldry; Bevilacqua at Times Square. Further match ups highlight the scrawled draftsmanship of A. R. Penck and Jean- Michel Basquiat and the sexual innuendo of David Salle and Sue Williams. There's no real theme here, but plenty of pleasantly off-kilter con- nections. Through July 21. (Danese, 41 E. 57th St. 223-2227.) Short List BETSABÉE ROMERO Galeria Ramis Barquet, 41 E. 57th St. 644-9090. Through Sept. 1. DONALD SULTAN Mary Ryan, 24 W 57th St. 397-0669. Through July 28. GALLERIES -CHELSEA IIBOUNDLESSL Y VARIOUS AND EVERYTHING SIMUL T ANEOUSL yll This beautifully installed show was curated by the multitalented Peter Nagy, an artist and gallerist who divides his time between Delhi and New York. Indian artists and Westerners working on the subcontinent share equal billing (one of the stars of the show, Jeffrey Schiff, hails from Brook- lyn). There is an over-all rhythm of ritual to the works on view, most gracefully present in Schiff's installation of Ayurvedic soaps carved in the shape of Tamil letters, laid humbly on the gallery floor. Viewers are invited to wash with the soap in one of the accompanying brass bowls while repeating a sacred chant. Om shanti. Through July 21. (Bose- Pacia Modern, 508 W. 26th St. 989-7074.) IIGAME ON II The Sara Meltzer Gallery goes yard in a group show organized around the theme of sports. Soc- cer hooligans could take a cue from Jason Dodge's elegant approach to the game: in "She Is Kissing Just for Practice" (a kiss is a soft kick in soccer par- lance), he presents a winsome array of evocative objects-blades of grass, a badminton birdie, a chocolate wrapper-nestled in a scaled-down goal. Alix Lambert, a stunner in real life who's a dead ringer for Bridget Fonda, bears a disturbing resem- blance to Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy in her self- portrait. Most impressive is Karen Kimmel's eye- catching conflation of art and commerce-a pitch 14 THE NEW YORKER., JULY 24, 2000 for whimsical seasonal sports (lumber sports for spring, board games for fall, ete.), whose outfits and apparel are on sale at the gallery and at the artist- entrepreneur's Los Angeles boutique. Through July 28. (516 W 20th St. 727-9330.) IIKOOL AID II This playful exhibition opens with Amy Gatrell's row of rainbow-colored nooses (in case you missed the Jonestown punch reference in the show's title). With five pieces, painter David Korty dominates the proceedings: in his breezy acrylics of the Los Angeles landscape, his touch is so light he actu- ally makes a city dump appealing. Through July 29. (Greene Naftali, 526 W 26th St. 463-7770.) 'ilL<M:;: ... = -- .. " - -'. T.. ..,... . .. . ...... . ::............,,' ........ '.. .. . -- ':'. \:' '. ',.' . " ., ," <,1 . PHOTOGRAPHY RUDY BURCKHARDT This retrospective, prompted by Burckhardt's death last year, is mounted alongside a roomful of portraits of the artist by his friends, including Alex Katz and Red Grooms. Burckhardt's photographs of New York are simple, the work of a man who once offered "someone stepping off a curb" as an example of his ideal subject. His 1940 "Walk- ing," a meditation on rayon, low heels, and con- crete, places him with the best street photogra- . ;. ',', '':;.''', ": '. . .", " . .' \ ': . . " ..... '- .'\. . \ ...;,.' .. . .,: :{" ).. , . Seven teepees float in New York Harbor, courtesy of the artist Gregory Lee Pickard IITWO FRIENDS AND SO ON II A gleefully cavalier chain-link group show, orga- nized by artists Jonathan Horowitz and Rob Pruitt. The first artist invited into the show invites the second, and so on until the gallery's filled to capacity with fifteen pieces, at which point the sixteenth anist replaces the first. As of this writing, the show opened with Jim Krewson's painting of two friends, a smarmy Bavarian idyll with seven- ties small-screen idols Scott Baio and Willy Ames sporting rosy cheeks and lederhosen. Jennifer Cohen gets pyrotechnical with a crocodile made of joint compound, its back covered in ammonium chromate, the stuff of sparklers. When lit (a box of matches sits on the floor next to the croc) the or- ange material turns a reptilian green. Through July 28. (Kreps, 516A W 20th St. 741-8849.) Short List ROBERTO JUAREZ Robert Miller, 524 W 26th St. 366-4774. Through July 28. FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ Liebman Magnan, 552 W. 24th St. 255-3225. Through July 28. NEW YORK HARBOR II POWWOW II Gregory Lee Pickard floats his version of a Native American village midway between Ellis and Liberty Islands. The seven teepees (made of wind-resistant plastic, not buffalo skins) on seven rafts can be ob- served from afar (especially at night, when they will be illuminated from within) at Liberty State Park or the Statue of Liberty, or arrangements can be made to motor by on a skiff that makes periodic tours of the maritime village, from July 15-23. (For more information, call 777-6249.) phers, while a pair of 1945 still-lifes, "Sir Walter Raleigh" and "Snail and Can Opener," prove that his deceptively informal compositions are the product of a skilled and thoughtful eye. Through July 28. (De Nagy, 724 Fifth Ave. 262-5050.) ELLIOTT ERWITT Erwitt is famous for making things funny. Over a long career, he has successfully maximized the po- tential for humor in dogs, sunbathers, and unwit- ting pedestrians. "Museum Watching" documents his lifelong interest in the dynamic between ob- servers and works of art; the show includes pho- tographs from the nineteen-fifties to the present, of sites as diverse as the pyramids of Giza, the Great Wall of China, the Louvre, and the American Mu- seum of Natural History. Viewers can revel not only in its drollery but in the additional frisson of seeing themselves (or at least versions of them- selves) represented. Through Aug. 11. (Houk, 745 Fifth Ave., at 57th St. 750-7070.) IICOMPENDIUM II Over the course of its first full year in business, Sepia has shown ten artists, whose work appears together here. Each has some tie to Asia, and many specifically to the Indian subcontinent, on which the affiliated Alkazi Collection is focussed. A use- ful introduction to this new venue. Through July 29. (Sepia Gallery and Alkazi Collection, 148 W 24th St. 645-9444.) IIDEBUTS AND UPDATES II Three strong women dominate this small group show: Carla Shapiro, who puts her black-and-white prints of weather and nature into repainted antique frames; Karen Halverson, whose color pictures of Lodore Canyon allude to early photography of the American West; and Alyson Denny, whose abstract "Horizontal Line Series" C-prints swim with pure <( color. Through Aug. 18. (Alan KlotzlPhotocollect, 22 E. 72nd St. 327-2211. Closed Tuesdays.) IIINVIT A TIONAL II L.U For this three-man show, Alexandros Georgiou offers blurry blowups of pixies frolicking on desks